America spends too much on healthcare ($5 trillion annually). So the solution is . . . to put the government in charge of everything???

Photo above - would this guy have shot the head of the Veterans Administration if he blamed his chronic back pain on THEIR policies?

Americans (as a nation) spend the most on healthcare, die sooner, and are sicker when we die (see link below). Yeah . . . been hearing that for more than a decade now. Since before Obamacare, actually. A program which was supposed to increase lifespans, cut costs, and insure everyone for everything. (insert sound of crickets chirping).

And now the US spends $5 trillion annually ($13,000 per man, woman, child, and non-binary). Double the amount spent by countries like Australia, Canada, and the UK.

So, we MIGHT be able to save money on healthcare by putting 200,000 federal bureaucrats in charge. That’s about how many collectively work at the FDA (Food and Drug Administration); HHS (Health and Human Services; Medicare, Medicaid, and the VA healthcare programs. And the ARHQ, ATSDR, CFSAN, CNPP, CDC, CMS, DHA, FNS, FSIS . .

Yeah, there are dozens and dozens of agencies. No, I’m not going to spell out all the acronyms here. Use Google if you’re skeptical.

But still, it MIGHT (theoretically) be possible for Americans to live longer, healthier, and less expensive lives, if we put politicians and bureaucrats in charge. And if those brainiacs might do not repeat any of the awful policies in effect at the VA, Medicare, Medicaid, Pentagon, Public Schools, and whoever is in charge of fixing our 41,000 unsafe/collapsing bridges.

This might possibly work. But I’m still skeptical.

I know how Britain and Canada make it work (I’ve been to both countries, but not Australia). They pay doctors and nurses a pittance – which is why so many of their medical professionals aspire to migrate to the USA.

Also, if you live in Britain, you can’t have elective surgery whenever you want. You can get on a waiting list and then cross your fingers. Things like hernia repair. Bunion surgery. Joint replacement. Chronic back pain. Tonsillectomies. Kidney stones. The NHS WILL do something about your appendicitis, but only after watching it fester for weeks and hoping for the best until it takes a turn for the worse.

This is, in fact, how America’s own veterans' administration health care operates. And a contributing factor for why so many vets have untreated PSTD, substance abuse, mental health issues, etc. They’re on some waiting list.

I do want the extra 19 months of life expectancy Brits enjoy. But to achieve that we’d probably have to allow the government to take charge of even MORE (non-healthcare) stuff. Transition us to fewer cars and shorter trips. Re-criminalize narcotics. Use Britain’s weird method of defining live birth or not. Criminalize gun possession (full disclosure – I believe guns should be licensed and insured like automobiles). Restrict the use of ski-doos and personal watercraft. Stop alcohol consumption on college campuses. Arrest and jail all those streetcorner Fentanyl impresarios.

Simply paying American doctors less, and pivoting to Veterans Administration style treatment policies probably won’t get us there. And creating a panic about vaccinations won’t either, Mr. Kennedy. Your dad is probably rolling over in his grave.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

‘The US is failing’: Shocking study of 10 wealthy nations reveals Americans die the youngest, ‘live the sickest lives’ — despite the US spending the most on health care. Here’s the problem

List of countries by total health expenditure per capita - Wikipedia

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MarkPaul · 26-30, M

It seems you have fallen into one of the common manipulation traps used by the medical, hospital, and pharmaceutical industry intended to sway American public opinion away from universal health care as a right...

1. "Medicare for all" is socialism.
2. Do you really want the government to control your healthcare?
3. If we let the government control our healthcare, then that will open up control of everything.

These are all fear tactics originating from a formidable lobbying effort to keep medical care a high-cost specialty. The traps were originally designed and intended to keep healthcare segregated. After the Medicare program was successfully implemented after many decades of failed starts, those traps were retooled into keeping healthcare obscenely profitable (when segregation became unsustainable).

The socialism argument is as old as the USA and has no real merit. Sadly though, it remains as effective of a tool of manipulation of the masses as it was when George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and their peers suggested some form of baseline healthcare for all. An educated person should ask why non-socialized healthcare is superiour?

Fearing a government take-over becomes a weak argument if you do the research to compare it against insurance companies running the programme. While it's fun to think competitive industry is inherently efficient, the reality is industry bureaucracy is designed to extract as much profit regardless of healthcare outcomes. It should raise the question if that kind of efficiency is favourable.

The exaggeration of, if healthcare then what is next is a common favourite refrain taken up by the gun lobby to prevent any regulation or restrictions on its products and one often used by school children to dramatize how a given punishment will negatively impact them if carried out. It's strictly dramatic for the sake of drama. Why not, if you get a morning rest break from work, then you will want a lunch hour, then an afternoon rest break, and then you will want to be treated with respect, and then washroom breaks, and then...

Fear of bureaucracy is valid and reasonable, but it doesn't matter if that bureaucracy is run by the government, industry, or AI. So, it needs to be managed rather than feared. Forms of socialism already exist, so that tired argument is just tiresome. And, the exaggeration tactic is literally grasping at grass clippings. If it does open the floodgates for other things to be controlled, maybe that's because that is what people want OR get off your fat, lazy arse and vote against those who want to extend government control beyond what the majority want OR fix what isn't working. Of course, you can just decide to sit back and continue, generation after generation to be manipulated and enjoy it. That could be genetic... I suppose.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@MarkPaul thanks for your ignorant snark claiming my post is anti-socialism.

i never used the word socialism at any point. i simply pointed out the present government mismanagement of: the VA, medicare, medicaid, public schools, pentagon spending . . .

MarkPaul · 26-30, M

@SusanInFlorida Thanks for not reading my post and mustering all the fake manufactured outrage you can. I didn't say YOU were anti-socialism; I specifically educated you on the fact that there are generally 3 "manipulation traps" that people fall into. What this means is that any one of these traps or any combination of the 3 can be triggered. In YOUR case, you fell into traps 2 and 3. See now...?